Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Carol Masser and I'm
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stanovk. We're here every day bringing
Speaker 1: you the latest news from the world to business and finance,
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Speaker 1: Eastern Time on the Bloomberg Radio or watch us on
Speaker 1: YouTube search Bloomberg clovel News. Let's get the latest when
Speaker 1: it comes to the health pandemic and lucky for us.
Speaker 1: Back with us as Dr uh As G. G. Gronville.
Speaker 1: She's senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Speaker 1: She is an Associate professor in the Department of Environmental
Speaker 1: Health and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, which is of course
Speaker 1: supported by Michael R. Bloomberg, founder, Bloomberg LP, and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Speaker 1: She joins us on the phone from Baltimore. Dr Gronville,
Speaker 1: good to have you back with us, um It's interesting.
Speaker 1: It does feel like again we're going through another chapter
Speaker 1: where we feel like we're moving beyond the pandemic and
Speaker 1: we're seeing, you know, very states say you can start
Speaker 1: to take off your masks. How do you see this development?
Speaker 1: A good one, a positive one? Does it show some progress?
Speaker 1: I wish that, um, Well, first of all, thank you
Speaker 1: for having me, But I wish that people would hold
Speaker 1: their horses just a little bit longer. Um. We still
Speaker 1: have really high levels of transmission, we still have many
Speaker 1: people in the hospital. We have a really unacceptable death
Speaker 1: rate per day, um. And but we do have some
Speaker 1: hopeful signs on the horizon, and I just wish that
Speaker 1: people would, you know, be a little bit more conservative
Speaker 1: for the next several weeks. What do you think it
Speaker 1: is that's leading a lot of states to drop their
Speaker 1: mask mandates. And we're not talking states that are more
Speaker 1: conservative and politically have been against mask mandates governors. We're
Speaker 1: talking blue states like New Jersey, uh in New York
Speaker 1: Is as well. What's is this politics or is it
Speaker 1: the science? Um, It's not the science. And I think
Speaker 1: that it's that it's that people are definitely sick of everything, UM.
Speaker 1: And it's understandable, and that doesn't that includes people from
Speaker 1: blue and red states. Um, but it's uh, it's not
Speaker 1: and the and it's true that cases are falling, that
Speaker 1: the amcon waves is is really you know, it's swept through,
Speaker 1: but um, but it's still it's still not gone yet.
Speaker 1: And so I think UM being a little bit more cautious, uh,
Speaker 1: and trying to keep the things that we want to
Speaker 1: keep open open. I'm especially concerned about schools, and I
Speaker 1: think that should be the priority. Well, let's talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about that, because I'm already getting you know,
Speaker 1: I live in a I told care about this yesterday.
Speaker 1: I live in apartment building in New York City. We
Speaker 1: have a mask mandate for the building. And after what
Speaker 1: we've heard earlier this week from governors around the country,
Speaker 1: we already have residents who live in the building saying
Speaker 1: we've got to remove this mask mandate because it's being
Speaker 1: removed in New York. And I'm thinking to myself, Well,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of newborns in this building. There
Speaker 1: are people under the age of five who are not
Speaker 1: eligible to be vaccinated. Help me understand the tension there. Well,
Speaker 1: in a few weeks and we'll be able to probably
Speaker 1: start being able to vaccinate the under five crowd not
Speaker 1: but but not newborns yet, right, I mean we're like
Speaker 1: not new born right to probably two to five years old.
Speaker 1: And um, and we'll probably that will probably happen in
Speaker 1: a few weeks start happening. But you know, it takes
Speaker 1: time to to get them, uh, I mean I and
Speaker 1: also it will take some time to help educate parents
Speaker 1: that this is the best thing to do. Um, we
Speaker 1: haven't yet really done that as well as we could
Speaker 1: have for the five to eleven year old right now,
Speaker 1: nationally they're about a quarter of them have been vaccinated
Speaker 1: of eligible five to eleven year old and that's just
Speaker 1: not sufficient. Hey, one thing I want to ask you
Speaker 1: back on a plane, this is like the second plane.
Speaker 1: I mean I did one in fault him and I
Speaker 1: did he's been on another one. Um, but what do
Speaker 1: we need to think about as we travel? Because I
Speaker 1: just thought for everybody was a lot more relaxed to
Speaker 1: wearing masks, but it was very different from everybody pulling
Speaker 1: out their wipes and wiping everything down. Um. What do
Speaker 1: we need to think about? G G. Well, I think
Speaker 1: that you know, if you are traveling and you are
Speaker 1: able to wear a mask, and you're with you know, uh,
Speaker 1: with people who you don't know what their status is,
Speaker 1: and they may or may not be vaccinated, they may
Speaker 1: or may not be infected. I mean I'd wear a
Speaker 1: mask UM in that that situation. And and if you
Speaker 1: are able to UM, you know, all masks work, but
Speaker 1: better masks do work better. And so if you're able
Speaker 1: to wear UM, and then ninety five or a CAN
Speaker 1: ninety five or a CAN ninety four, something that's better.
Speaker 1: You know, that's a that has better protection. UM. Do that.
Speaker 1: It's not gonna there's no guarantee in life. UM. I
Speaker 1: know people are saying that, you know, one one way
Speaker 1: masking works does work. UM, but it's you know, it's
Speaker 1: certainly better if you're not getting exposed. I mean, Dr Gronville.
Speaker 1: Before we let you go, I want to talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about self testing. I recently received micronavirus test
Speaker 1: kit from the US government free of charge. What are
Speaker 1: we getting wrong about the way that we're self testing? UM.
Speaker 1: One thing that I always tell people is you remember
Speaker 1: that testing is a moment in time. UM. It will
Speaker 1: tell you your status at the time that you that
Speaker 1: you swabbed your nose and um, the A lot of
Speaker 1: times people think, oh, well, you know I I tested
Speaker 1: yesterday and I said I was negative. But then you
Speaker 1: know the next day is positive and so the testing work.
Speaker 1: That's it's it's more likely that you were infected, but
Speaker 1: you were below the limits of detection and the test.
Speaker 1: So testing is a moment in time. If you're going
Speaker 1: to use the test, um, I recommend people check YouTube
Speaker 1: or the manufacturer to just make sure they're doing it correctly. Um,
Speaker 1: there's there's the tests are all a little bit different,
Speaker 1: so so why not look for an example now, really
Speaker 1: good advice. Hey, so nice to talk to you once again.
Speaker 1: Dr G. G. Granville, Senior Scholar of a JOHNS. Hopkins
Speaker 1: Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health,
Speaker 1: of course, supported by Michael R. Bloomberg. Joining us on
Speaker 1: the phone from Baltimore. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week
Speaker 1: with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio. The new issue of Bloomberg Business Week, and
Speaker 1: update on a story about the loan shark, then President
Speaker 1: Trump freed from prison, who is now lending money again.
Speaker 1: It's a story that Zeke Fox at Bloomberg has been
Speaker 1: falling for some time. Tim Zeke Fox's financial investigations reporter.
Speaker 1: He joins us in the Bloomberg Interactive Broker studio. Joel
Speaker 1: Webber is editor at Bloomberg business Week. He joins us
Speaker 1: as well from the Bloomberg Interactive Broker Studio. Joel. Before
Speaker 1: we get into the part in the sentence that wasn't served,
Speaker 1: UM remind us who is Jonathan Braun. Jonathan Braun is
Speaker 1: uh the story uh that Zeke writes is basically the
Speaker 1: main character and that he also was a prominent UM
Speaker 1: character in some previous reporting that Zeke and our colleague
Speaker 1: um Zack Miner did in for the magazine a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago that kicked off really with a Business
Speaker 1: Week cover story called um sign Here to Lose Everything
Speaker 1: that became a series of stories. Um Braun figured into
Speaker 1: some of those um and and ended up going to jail,
Speaker 1: although not for predatory lending. It was actually on some
Speaker 1: drug charges. Um. But you're right on the last day
Speaker 1: of President Trump's presidency, he commuted the sentence and John
Speaker 1: Brown as he is about to tell us, Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes you do what you do best and and he's
Speaker 1: back to to doing a certain kind of business. Would
Speaker 1: you find would you find Zeke? And how did the story?
Speaker 1: How did this story come to you? Because for the record,
Speaker 1: by the way, guys, this this story is unbelievable thanks
Speaker 1: to Yeah. I mean a few months after John Braun
Speaker 1: got out of prison, I started getting calls late night
Speaker 1: text people are saying John Brown is back in business
Speaker 1: and this is a big deal because he's famous in
Speaker 1: this world of merchant cash advance, which are guys who
Speaker 1: lend money to small businesses like truckers, restaurateurs, cleaners, anyone
Speaker 1: who's got a little company. They borrow money at these
Speaker 1: crazy interest rates and even among people who charge a
Speaker 1: thousand percent themselves. They're coming to me and saying, this
Speaker 1: guy John is ripping people off. How did he get
Speaker 1: out of prison? How did you get apart in from Trump?
Speaker 1: And then they started tipping me off and saying he's
Speaker 1: got a new operation based in in Borough Park and
Speaker 1: he's famous for just like vulgar rants. We have a
Speaker 1: video of one that you can see if you read
Speaker 1: the story, where he's threatening borrowers, he's cursing them out
Speaker 1: and then he's but he's Also he's very smart and
Speaker 1: he invents these uh or take uses these legal loopholes
Speaker 1: to seize people's money when they fall behind on the loans,
Speaker 1: which is quite common given that the rates are so high.
Speaker 1: You borrow ten grand and you might owe twenty you know,
Speaker 1: in a month or two. Talk to us about that
Speaker 1: because the victims in these stories, and you have a
Speaker 1: couple of examples in the in the story, Um, what
Speaker 1: do they go through when when they in turn into
Speaker 1: an agreement. Yeah. So I spoke to one guy, Brian Massey.
Speaker 1: He was a mechanic in in Memphis, and you know
Speaker 1: he's having a tough time with his business with the pandemic,
Speaker 1: and he started, you never just take one of these loans.
Speaker 1: You turned to one of these somebody calls you a
Speaker 1: salesman and says, hey, do you need any money for
Speaker 1: your business? And Brian did, and they say, we're going
Speaker 1: to get you a great loan, but first, maybe take
Speaker 1: this trial deal and you know you're gonna get twenty
Speaker 1: grand and don't worry about it, like it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a good rate. And so he when the contract, these
Speaker 1: are all done, this isn't like your loan shark on
Speaker 1: the corner. These people are signing contracts and when the
Speaker 1: contract says, hey, you'll get ten grand and you have
Speaker 1: to pay back fifteen and uh forty five days or
Speaker 1: something like that. So the contracts side, you're agreeing to
Speaker 1: something that's got pretty tough terms. But then on top
Speaker 1: of that, they're all sorts of hidden fees. There's really
Speaker 1: punitive terms if you ever fall behind and they have
Speaker 1: to collect on you. And according to these borrowers are interviewed,
Speaker 1: these lenders don't always live up to end of their
Speaker 1: end of the contract. Well, sometimes take extra fees um
Speaker 1: or start trying to sue someone for defaulting when they
Speaker 1: have barely fallen behind or haven't fallen behind at all.
Speaker 1: Uh So it can be really devastating for these businesses.
Speaker 1: The massive the mechanic by the time I was done
Speaker 1: reporting the story, he had to close his shop and
Speaker 1: take a job as a security guard. But meanwhile, they
Speaker 1: can be very lucrative for the lenders, as you can
Speaker 1: imagine if you're lending at you know, two thousand percent
Speaker 1: a year. Hey Z, can you you spent some time
Speaker 1: with Braun over the years explain his personality? We we
Speaker 1: have examples of him lashing out at at clients. You've
Speaker 1: you spent hours with him. Actually Tim didn't said correctly,
Speaker 1: Inspector Gadget. We'd like to have you explained. And you
Speaker 1: don't have to explain that one. People have to go
Speaker 1: read the story to know that one. Well, yeah, so
Speaker 1: when I was investigating this loophole a few years ago,
Speaker 1: he was one of the biggest users of it or
Speaker 1: abusers of it, according to the people I spoke to.
Speaker 1: Its called Confessions of Judgment. And he wouldn't take my calls.
Speaker 1: So I stopped by his office and spoke to him
Speaker 1: for quite a bit. And first he was he was
Speaker 1: very angry and berated me in front of everyone. But
Speaker 1: then uh, and now you know, I wasn't That's what
Speaker 1: I'd heard he would be like, um. But once he
Speaker 1: invited me, he said he needed to calm down. He
Speaker 1: invited me up to the roof too, so he could
Speaker 1: have a cigarette. I said, let's go to the street instead,
Speaker 1: So we hung out out on and the you know,
Speaker 1: on the sidewalk in the financial district. And you know,
Speaker 1: he said, I mean, he says, your sources are wrong,
Speaker 1: they're making all this stuff up. Why are you about
Speaker 1: to get me, you're harassing me. Um, but uh but yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean he's not a he's not a pleasant person.
Speaker 1: He also offered you a job. I mean, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure if it was like a real offer, but at
Speaker 1: some point he said something. You know, it's more like
Speaker 1: we're not so different. You and I like, here, you
Speaker 1: are harassing me. You know what do I have to
Speaker 1: do to collect debts? Like why are you blaming me
Speaker 1: for calling borrowers when you when you're very aggressive yourself.
Speaker 1: Well he used a profanity and cause you inspector gadget,
Speaker 1: Like I said, people have to read this story. We
Speaker 1: only have like forty seconds left here, just quickly. How
Speaker 1: was he pardoned? That's the crazy thing. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: telling people, like I've spoken to people who've spoken to him,
Speaker 1: he's bragging that it costs millions of dollars that he
Speaker 1: paid to you know, various Trump connected people. And but
Speaker 1: the only thing I could nail down is that he did.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if Dershowitz says it didn't cost anything,
Speaker 1: but he did get Alan Dershowitz, the lawyer for Trump
Speaker 1: in his first impeachment, to represent him, to advocate for him.
Speaker 1: Dershowitz says, you know, he got only a small fee,
Speaker 1: but he can't remember exactly how much. But it could
Speaker 1: be that Braun had other people advocating for him too.
Speaker 1: I just couldn't get to the bottom of that part.
Speaker 1: We know that there'll be more installments and we're gonna
Speaker 1: look forward to reading them. Um Zeeke, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Seek Fox, he's financial investigations reporter at Bloomberg back in
Speaker 1: our interactive studio along with the editor of Business Week,
Speaker 1: Tel Weber. This story, this update in the new issue
Speaker 1: of Business Week. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with
Speaker 1: Carol Masser and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stenovik on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: All right, so you guys know we're on the West
Speaker 1: coast because we're doing a lead up event, Bloomberg Live
Speaker 1: event Power Players Summit that's tomorrow in Beverly Hills. When
Speaker 1: we're talking to all types of individuals who involved in
Speaker 1: the sports world, you know, the big game. Of course,
Speaker 1: it's about so much team. It is about so much
Speaker 1: Tim and teams as well, teams, players, coaches. There's also
Speaker 1: a lot of technology involved. There is technology from many
Speaker 1: different companies. One of those is Samsung. Mark Kilroy's is
Speaker 1: vice president of marketing for the Display vision for Samsung.
Speaker 1: Joins us right now on the phone from Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: Mark Kiroz. How are you. I'm good. How are you
Speaker 1: all doing? We're doing well? Thanks? Hey. UM, give us
Speaker 1: an idea of of what people who are going to
Speaker 1: be at the game on Sunday are going to experience
Speaker 1: from a technological point of you, I mean, beyond looking
Speaker 1: at their smartphones, beyond being able to communicate with one another,
Speaker 1: beyond being able to communicate with others. What that tech
Speaker 1: are they going to be immersed in? Sure? Sure? So?
Speaker 1: So you know that really starts when the kind of
Speaker 1: fans even enter the venue, Right, they're gonna start to
Speaker 1: interact with a lot of display technology that the that
Speaker 1: the stadium and the venue have put in place on
Speaker 1: that Samsung technology. And uh, when when we finally get
Speaker 1: the opportunity to see the playing field above it, they
Speaker 1: will see the Infinity screen by Samsung. Right, So that
Speaker 1: is the uh, that's the video board that sits about
Speaker 1: twenty ft above the playing surface, and it is an
Speaker 1: all inspiring uh technology. Right, But that's not That's not
Speaker 1: all they'll see all of the different LED screens across
Speaker 1: the whole venue um. And what's really interesting is that,
Speaker 1: you know, my my first experience earlier this season, when
Speaker 1: I visited the venue Um, you know, it was a
Speaker 1: bit of an all inspiring experience. But what really got
Speaker 1: me was that I would tend to look at fans
Speaker 1: during the game, and they were so so immersed in
Speaker 1: the technology and the screen above the the action on
Speaker 1: the field that I caught them a lot of times
Speaker 1: watching the screen versus the actual action on the field.
Speaker 1: So it's a pretty it's pretty amazing technology. We think
Speaker 1: about it, Mark, and you think about this new incredible
Speaker 1: Sofi stadium right that the game is going to be
Speaker 1: played in. But you're right like it, I feel like
Speaker 1: big screens were like one end or each of the
Speaker 1: you know zones. But this is just as you said,
Speaker 1: it's a circle, you know, of all LED light, Like
Speaker 1: you can just be looking at things from you know,
Speaker 1: anybody can see something that's up there. The experience of
Speaker 1: the game, I feel like technology, or the the experience
Speaker 1: of sports generally, technology plays a bigger, bigger role. I
Speaker 1: think about being you know at the US Open uh
Speaker 1: and Forest Hills, you know, and you're watching the speed
Speaker 1: of the balls, and like it's just becomes such a
Speaker 1: much more high tech experience. Oh, absolutely right. It the
Speaker 1: the enhancement of the experience is continually being raised, right,
Speaker 1: and I think that's where technology plays a key role
Speaker 1: to continue to create that fan experience, that guest experience,
Speaker 1: because you're competing against um, you know, the technology in
Speaker 1: the home, right, I mean, you know the technology and
Speaker 1: the home has gotten very good, are you know? If
Speaker 1: you own a Samsung uh TV, right, you know, it's
Speaker 1: great technology. You've got great viewing of of whatever action
Speaker 1: that's there. So you have to you enhance that. That
Speaker 1: experience has to be even better to entice fans to
Speaker 1: keep coming into those live venues. And that's what we've
Speaker 1: done here with the Infinity Screen and partnership with with
Speaker 1: the venue to to deliver you know, that one of
Speaker 1: kind experience and then being able to augment that with
Speaker 1: analytics and other information so that, you know, so that
Speaker 1: you get those heads looking up and off of those
Speaker 1: screens on their phones right, right, and then you throw
Speaker 1: an audio, right, isn't there something like two sixty j
Speaker 1: b l by harm and speakers? I mean I can
Speaker 1: just imagine like it's a home theater system on steroids.
Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, And and you know when you have the
Speaker 1: visuals combined with the audio, there there there. You know
Speaker 1: in my experience of this past season, and I'm sure
Speaker 1: that that you know, the Big Game will have even
Speaker 1: more unique content that they're going to deliver when when
Speaker 1: it comes to pass On on this weekend. But you
Speaker 1: know they would use that content because the ammenity screen
Speaker 1: is basically a blank camus. It gives gives the the
Speaker 1: operators the ability to do whatever they want in trying
Speaker 1: to communicate to their fans, and so there were sequences
Speaker 1: of content that they would really pump up the crowd
Speaker 1: and then with those visuals and then bring in the
Speaker 1: sound system to the point where you know, it became
Speaker 1: almost definite. Right. Hey, we're talking with Mark he Rose,
Speaker 1: vice president of marketing for the display division at Samsung. Mark,
Speaker 1: you are vice president marketing. So helped draw the line
Speaker 1: here from a really expensive investment like this at the
Speaker 1: stadium to getting people to go and buy Samsung displays
Speaker 1: for their homes. Yeah. So I think I mean the
Speaker 1: key is you. You you're trying to deliver one of
Speaker 1: a kind experiences whether that's in the stadium or even
Speaker 1: at home. Right, So you know, the technology itself, which
Speaker 1: you'll see on display if you have the privilege of
Speaker 1: being in the game or at the game on Sunday,
Speaker 1: is some uh state of the art technology, including our
Speaker 1: h d R ten plus technology that you have the
Speaker 1: same thing in that home viewing experience, right, So that's
Speaker 1: really enhancing the contrast the light and darks to to
Speaker 1: expone expose those fine image details. You know, never miss
Speaker 1: a minute of the action. Hey, Mark, what's the demand?
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of people are redoing stadiums, UM.
Speaker 1: We're all talking about, especially post pandemic experiencing things, and
Speaker 1: I feel like there's a lot more entertainment venues. What's
Speaker 1: the demand for your services you guys at Samsung to
Speaker 1: to build something like this or or similar scale type
Speaker 1: things when it comes to boards and just got about
Speaker 1: forty sconds. Yeah, sure, no, the demands UH is very strong, right,
Speaker 1: we were coming out of this pandemic situation. Everyone is
Speaker 1: looking to deliver a unique experience, UM. And so you
Speaker 1: know we've been able to build off of key stadiums
Speaker 1: like UM Chase Center where the Gold State Warriors play,
Speaker 1: to now so far have been our next one that's
Speaker 1: coming up during the next Major League Baseball season with
Speaker 1: the New York Mets, which the City Fields, So we
Speaker 1: have a lot of opportunity in the future. How do
Speaker 1: you watch the game or how will you watch the
Speaker 1: big game? Will you be here? How will I watch
Speaker 1: the game? Very closely? Given that my two favorite teams
Speaker 1: will be playing on Sunday, the Rams and Samsung. Oh
Speaker 1: I heard that. I'm not going to take offense to that.
Speaker 1: Visit Bengals fan. Okay, the Rams and Samsung? Alright? Are
Speaker 1: you gonna be there though? Uh? Yeah, that is to
Speaker 1: be determined, right. I love to be in the stadium,
Speaker 1: but I also love watching at home, so I'm a
Speaker 1: little torn. I get you. I'm with you, okay, Um,
Speaker 1: good luck to both teams. All right? Mark Kiros, VP
Speaker 1: of Marketing for the Display Division, over Samsung on the
Speaker 1: phone from l A. This is Bloomberg Business Week with
Speaker 1: Carol Masser and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Radio Today. When you check out shares a Mattel stock
Speaker 1: staring after the Cup the reported fourth quarter profit in
Speaker 1: sales that exceed analysts estimates bleed by revenue from traditional
Speaker 1: toy brands. We're talking Barbie and Polly Pocket. So great
Speaker 1: to have back with us the Mattel CEO. We're talking
Speaker 1: Eenon Christ chairman and CEO of Mitchell joining us on
Speaker 1: the phone from California. Eon. It is really great to
Speaker 1: have you back with us in your neighborhood. Yeah, we are.
Speaker 1: We could be doing this in person in another world
Speaker 1: right on. What worked so well for mattelvis in the
Speaker 1: holiday quarter? Well, Hi Tim, Hi Carol. Yes, this was
Speaker 1: just an exceptional quarter and year for Mattel. We outpaced
Speaker 1: the industry. We gained share globally for the second year
Speaker 1: in a row and in every measured market. We also
Speaker 1: had the highest annual growth rate in decades, double free
Speaker 1: cash flow and more than double our earning for share.
Speaker 1: So the way the way we see it that our
Speaker 1: turnaround is complete and Mattel is in growth mode. The
Speaker 1: strength is broad based. We expect to continue to gain
Speaker 1: market share with strong growth in twenty two and three.
Speaker 1: And I'm not stopping there. All right, so many questions
Speaker 1: we want to ask you. First of all, I know
Speaker 1: we remembered when we talked with you last time, and
Speaker 1: that was leading up to prior to the holiday shopping season,
Speaker 1: and we talked about supply chain constraints and you said
Speaker 1: you were working through them, you were figuring them out.
Speaker 1: I think you ordered a lot of inventory in advance.
Speaker 1: How are the supply chain UH supply chains today? That's right.
Speaker 1: We we did exactly that. We did the work and
Speaker 1: navigate through supply chain issues. And it's not that there
Speaker 1: were no issues, but this is exactly this is our job,
Speaker 1: this is what we do. This is but how did
Speaker 1: you How did you do it? Because so many other
Speaker 1: people and of course you know different industries are not
Speaker 1: apples to apples, But how did you do it? How
Speaker 1: did you manage the supply chain challenges? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: we we anticipated the short supply and the longer lead
Speaker 1: times and factor that into our planning. You know, we
Speaker 1: took very specific actions. We pulled forward production to increased capacity.
Speaker 1: We expedited procurement and sourcing of raw materials. We UH,
Speaker 1: we optimized near shoring of production. We contracted ocean trade
Speaker 1: ocean fred capacity and and rates in advance, and also
Speaker 1: secured the access to additional ports and shipping lanes. All
Speaker 1: these things were designed to mitigate for the disruption. And
Speaker 1: this is exactly where our restructured supply chain that gives
Speaker 1: us that is more flexible, more capital light, is able
Speaker 1: to uh withstand and respond to this type of situations.
Speaker 1: What are you seeing right now in the supply chain?
Speaker 1: How are you planning for two to make sure to
Speaker 1: mitigate whatever you can when it comes to these challenges continuing, Well,
Speaker 1: we still see some some challenges, but this is something
Speaker 1: that we have been working through during you know, over
Speaker 1: the last two years. Uh. And even with that, we
Speaker 1: saw of growth for the year and still planning for
Speaker 1: growth in twenty twenty two, strong growth for two. We
Speaker 1: expect growth for all of our our brands, Barbie, Hot Wheels,
Speaker 1: Fisher Price, also for American Girl. UM and see continuing
Speaker 1: demand for our product. Hey, how did American Girl? Because
Speaker 1: I felt like I have to say, I have a
Speaker 1: daughter she's now eighteen, but man, my house was full
Speaker 1: of American Girl stuff a lot, uh and we were
Speaker 1: all in. But then it seemed to have, you know,
Speaker 1: a tough, tougher time and it feels like you guys
Speaker 1: have scaled back a little bit. How how have you
Speaker 1: kind of reinvigorated that brand again? That's right, American Girl
Speaker 1: went through a turnaround. It's now growing. It grew for
Speaker 1: the full year. It's having really strong momentum with positive
Speaker 1: results across old key metrics as well as our director
Speaker 1: consumer strategy. It improved refordability, it grew in with new
Speaker 1: customer activations average or the value conversion rates, and most
Speaker 1: of the work has been around uh, leveraging the what
Speaker 1: made that brand successful in the beginning, the quality, the
Speaker 1: deep engagement with consumers, having a very robust digital flagship
Speaker 1: with deep engagements for our DIGC offering, and a lot
Speaker 1: of investments in innovation and content that accompanied the visible products.
Speaker 1: So American Girl is back. Uh, it's it's seeing really
Speaker 1: exciting momentum and we expected to grow for the full year. Hey,
Speaker 1: you know you and I last connected just a few
Speaker 1: months ago on Bloomberg. Quite taken. You were joining us
Speaker 1: from the White House because you had just met with
Speaker 1: President Biden and his team to work on supply chain issues.
Speaker 1: Here we are a few months later. We still see
Speaker 1: inflation very very hot seven point five p cp I
Speaker 1: print this morning, hotter than analysts expected. Thinking back to
Speaker 1: that meeting and where we are now, did anything material
Speaker 1: come of that meeting at the White House. Yes, I
Speaker 1: would say that we have seen improvement in in supply chain,
Speaker 1: especially clearing access to ports where there were some issues.
Speaker 1: Now not much better flow product into the country. And
Speaker 1: you know, inflation is is obviously, this is something that
Speaker 1: is a global situation UH and we are navigating through
Speaker 1: it and taking actions to mitigate for it. And I
Speaker 1: believe we're in a good place to continue to grow
Speaker 1: our business and improve for fudibility in spite of inflation.
Speaker 1: So do you feel like we are in a better
Speaker 1: place as a country when it comes to supply chains,
Speaker 1: when it comes to log jams that are shipping ports
Speaker 1: than we were back in late November early December. We
Speaker 1: have seen improvement, and I believe that the system is
Speaker 1: now able to UH to to manage through those issues.
Speaker 1: It's not that we're completely out of the woods. We
Speaker 1: still expect issues, but at the same time, people at
Speaker 1: this point became much more ready and able to U
Speaker 1: to respond to these situations. When you're when you're you know,
Speaker 1: we when you're planning for for this year and next year,
Speaker 1: at what point do things go back to normal for
Speaker 1: for the supply chain from Mattel Well with every day
Speaker 1: that goes by, we believe the situation is improving. We
Speaker 1: also see it with inflation. We expect to have lesser
Speaker 1: inflation in the second half of the year and for
Speaker 1: inflation to moderate in three so uh, gradually we believe
Speaker 1: that things will come back to normal. We see it
Speaker 1: also with the COVID impact, and if you look at
Speaker 1: what happens in other country gradually, Uh, it feels that
Speaker 1: we're coming back to normal. Now. We always have to
Speaker 1: be alert and aware and make sure that people around
Speaker 1: us are protected and and and you know, in terms
Speaker 1: of safe health and safety. That said, we do see
Speaker 1: an improvement, a gradual improvement, and but picularly with inflation. Um,
Speaker 1: we do expect things to improve. And all of it, obviously,
Speaker 1: to be clear, is factored into into our planet. You know,
Speaker 1: we are expect certain challenges, but already took accounts to that. Well,
Speaker 1: that's what I really asked you, you know, because you
Speaker 1: have an investor in event next week, and I'm reading
Speaker 1: a lot of the Alice commentary following your earnings and
Speaker 1: and one of them saying, you know, talking about confident
Speaker 1: in robust your outlooks for three but one saying the
Speaker 1: Key Bank that they almost felt like you gave too
Speaker 1: strong of an outlook. Um, what do you have to
Speaker 1: do next week with investors who are now very upbeed
Speaker 1: and expect a lot from you? What do you have
Speaker 1: to manage in terms of expectations because not everything is
Speaker 1: you know, always goes as planned or as forecast. That's right.
Speaker 1: We obviously developed for two a pretty uh robust plan.
Speaker 1: Bottoms up. We do expect to see growth in our
Speaker 1: later categories in uh in dalls, vehicles and infant oddlet preschool.
Speaker 1: UH this is again an area where we a global
Speaker 1: letter and we have very strong foundation that we expect
Speaker 1: our challenging categories as a whole to grow led by
Speaker 1: action figures where we about to have very strong theatrical
Speaker 1: lineup with Jurassic World with menus. This delight here so
Speaker 1: you know it is it is broad based. We're not
Speaker 1: relying on one on one property or one category or
Speaker 1: one power brand. We see strength across the portfolio. We
Speaker 1: are seeing the man that levels we have not seen
Speaker 1: in years. And if you look at our trajectory at
Speaker 1: and what we've been at, what we've achieved over the
Speaker 1: last four years. UH, you know the numbers speed, speed,
Speaker 1: for themselves. Now. That's that I want to be clear
Speaker 1: that we're not sitting here and expect this to be
Speaker 1: an easy, easy journey. We right, right, We will work
Speaker 1: hard and and the organization is ready to take on
Speaker 1: the challenge. Well, the start hitting a fifty two week
Speaker 1: high today. It's up almost fourteen percent so far this year,
Speaker 1: and of course getting a big boost because of the
Speaker 1: jump in today's share I have to ask you, Tim
Speaker 1: and I are on the West coast lead up to
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, a big Bloomberg event called the Power
Speaker 1: Player Summit Tomorrow. We're talking with all people that are
Speaker 1: involved in the world of sports, and I'm going to
Speaker 1: catch up with Stephanie McMahon over w w E. I mean,
Speaker 1: you guys have a partnership with them. I'm looking at
Speaker 1: you know, your website, these action figures, um, you know,
Speaker 1: whether it's Damian Priest or Drew McIntyre. I mean these
Speaker 1: kind of relationships. You guys really cast a fairly wide
Speaker 1: net when it comes to products. That's right. We're very
Speaker 1: proud of our relationship with w W It's been a
Speaker 1: great relationship and overall we are looking to position Mattel
Speaker 1: as a partner of choice for the major entertainment companies.
Speaker 1: We are focused on market moving franchises, big important, culturally
Speaker 1: relevant brands and uh, and they're doing a great job
Speaker 1: at that. And of course, the the latest um wind
Speaker 1: from a tail in this area is the addition of
Speaker 1: Disney Princess and Frozen franchises to our portfolio. This is
Speaker 1: something that we just announced recently. Uh, this is another
Speaker 1: another important addition to our portfolio. You know, we only
Speaker 1: have twenty seconds left with you. The new Barbie movie,
Speaker 1: Ryan Gosling, Margot Robbie. How big is that going to
Speaker 1: be for you? We couldn't be more excited. It's a great,
Speaker 1: great cast, Greta Gelwick to his writing and she will
Speaker 1: direct it in partnership with Warner Brothers. Can't wait to
Speaker 1: get it out. So cool. Um, always fun. You always
Speaker 1: give us lots of time, and we really appreciate we
Speaker 1: get to really dig into your business. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: and thank you so much, Mattelsa you know and cries
Speaker 1: on the phone in California as we engine. Definitely one
Speaker 1: of the standouts in today's session, considering it's a downward market,
Speaker 1: that's stock up seven and a half percent. I'm yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll bet you let me drive. Oh no, no, no no, no, please,
Speaker 1: I'll do the dravel. I want to drive. It's a
Speaker 1: good question. This is the Drive to the Clothes on
Speaker 1: Bluebird Radio. And just about ten minutes left in today's
Speaker 1: trading session, and we are, as you've heard from the
Speaker 1: updates from Charlie, we're pretty much at our loads of
Speaker 1: the session. Really concerns about a much more hawkish FED,
Speaker 1: certainly on that hot cp I print. So let's get
Speaker 1: to it. Let's talk about the market. Yeah, really curious
Speaker 1: how Emily Hill, founding partner at Bowerstock Capital, is feeling
Speaker 1: about this. Bowerstock Capital has eight hundred million dollars in
Speaker 1: assets under management. Emily Hill joins us on the phone
Speaker 1: from Lawrence, Kansas. Emily, how are you? I'm doing well?
Speaker 1: Are you? We're doing well. We're trying to make sense
Speaker 1: of what the Fed is going to do. Why we
Speaker 1: keep getting these hotter than expected inflation prints, even economists
Speaker 1: or underestimating how hot inflation is and when it will peak?
Speaker 1: Help us make sense of a daylight today? How do you?
Speaker 1: How do you look at this in the context of
Speaker 1: what's going on? Well, the inflation number was definitely disappointing,
Speaker 1: and it's to pass expectations. I think there was a
Speaker 1: hope out there that inflation was moderating or at least
Speaker 1: an inflation was peaking, and the numbers today and make
Speaker 1: it look like that isnastgate. So the market is now
Speaker 1: pricing end you know, much higher and likelihood of a
Speaker 1: sinking basis point increasing rates in March, which I don't
Speaker 1: think is a in a huge surprise. I do expect
Speaker 1: inflation to moderate over the next year, and I don't
Speaker 1: think I personally am not in the camp it's expected
Speaker 1: five to seven fent make it great high, but I
Speaker 1: think that is what the market, that's the possibility to
Speaker 1: the market's reaction to today. Yeah, you're definitely seeing it
Speaker 1: play out. So how do you? First of all, I'm
Speaker 1: kind of fascinated by your firm. It looks like it's
Speaker 1: all women, which I think is pretty cool if that's
Speaker 1: the case. But I also like what you say about
Speaker 1: how you folks are grounded in the social sciences and
Speaker 1: you highlight um, you know, the Rand Corporation, Yale Universities,
Speaker 1: International Security Studies, McKinsey and Company, Morgan Stanley. Just it
Speaker 1: sounds like you guys are all coming from it at
Speaker 1: a different perspective. Having said that, then when you look
Speaker 1: at a market like today's, what different conclusions maybe do
Speaker 1: you come to versus waybe what we're hearing from the pack. Well,
Speaker 1: I am so glad you asked that question because I'm
Speaker 1: actually passionate about about having a different background from what
Speaker 1: its standards in this profession. And you know, I spent
Speaker 1: a lot of time stutting twentieth century American history, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure you have noticed there are some major similarities
Speaker 1: to day to what we saw in the post World
Speaker 1: War two period, and you know, it's very this pandemic,
Speaker 1: it's been very similar to a war and when if
Speaker 1: you look back back there and Paul Paul Cruvement isn't
Speaker 1: arguing the same thing. The inflationary surge lasted close to
Speaker 1: two years. So we've had such a massive change in
Speaker 1: our society and our economy that I don't think it's
Speaker 1: surprising that we've had a surge in inflation, and so
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I think that that is leading
Speaker 1: to a panic, but it's really there was a historical
Speaker 1: package for this that I think it's reassuring, right, because
Speaker 1: you go from you think about it, right, an economy
Speaker 1: that's all focused on the war, the war ends, right,
Speaker 1: and then there's a real kind of recalibration, real shift
Speaker 1: um And it was. It set absolutely incredible growth in
Speaker 1: the economy and market it did. It actually spurred a
Speaker 1: massive amount of innovation that occurred in the ten years
Speaker 1: after the war. And we're seeing the same thing here. Right.
Speaker 1: You have a boom in consumer demand at the time.
Speaker 1: It was a reaction, you know, it was the end
Speaker 1: of it was the end of uh Field, basically not
Speaker 1: being able to buy anything, not having anything available. You
Speaker 1: had boom in consumer demand. You had burgeoning public debt
Speaker 1: that was coupled as an increase in private savings. You
Speaker 1: had big labor markets frictions in that case, you had
Speaker 1: troops returning from war and having to get back in
Speaker 1: the labor force and rembashed. The parallels are quite remarkable,
Speaker 1: and you know, obviously there were also some substantial differences
Speaker 1: they didn't have. They didn't understand as much about how
Speaker 1: the international it's monitory system operated. They didn't inject kind
Speaker 1: of massive stimulus to the economy that we that we
Speaker 1: did this time around. But I don't definitely think there's
Speaker 1: some lessons that can be learned there. Okay. So it
Speaker 1: all raises the question about asset allocation and where investors
Speaker 1: should be putting money right now, and of course that
Speaker 1: obviously depends on time frame. But in general, a conversation
Speaker 1: that we've been having with asset managers has been is
Speaker 1: there any place for fixed income in a portfolio right now?
Speaker 1: What are you telling clients? I'm I've just had a
Speaker 1: conversation today with a client who I had not had
Speaker 1: a number of clients that have had large liquidity events
Speaker 1: in the last year and a half, and we had
Speaker 1: considered a very high quality tax free municipal bond ladder,
Speaker 1: you know, about a year ago, and at that time
Speaker 1: we were seeing about fifty basis points tax free, right,
Speaker 1: hardly worth doing. And also the concern that with interest
Speaker 1: rates as low as they are, you know, is our
Speaker 1: is our principle even protected? Well, the same portfolio now
Speaker 1: is yielding about one point three five steps, so I
Speaker 1: actually and it's a huge demand to tax free bonds. Now.
Speaker 1: I don't think you're gonna make a lot of money.
Speaker 1: This is this is about principal presumation. But I do think,
Speaker 1: you know, we will see in some of the very
Speaker 1: high quality parts of the bottom market. For high net
Speaker 1: worth investors in lead A want a portion of their
Speaker 1: portfolio to be orientory tax ory income and orientatorics presurgation.
Speaker 1: There are better opportunities than their wor a year ago.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like we are settling down and finding
Speaker 1: levels in terms of a floor for the equity markets
Speaker 1: and maybe a ceiling for the treasury market. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't know about the ceiling on the treasury market,
Speaker 1: but you know, we were saying around the end of
Speaker 1: the year and that we expected about a fifteen corrections
Speaker 1: sometime during the first half. I think the market is
Speaker 1: going to continue to be volnable at least through the
Speaker 1: March FED meeting and probably you know, through the end
Speaker 1: of the spring. And I think we've seen in some
Speaker 1: ways we've seen the correction we expected, but I don't
Speaker 1: think it's over. So for clients of ours that have
Speaker 1: a lot of cash, you know, our our strategy, you
Speaker 1: know our approaches, have a rigorous long term acid allocations
Speaker 1: strategy and be putting cash to work now, But not
Speaker 1: all of what you know, because they're they're their opportunities
Speaker 1: were continuing to unfold. What's the timeline there? Typically in
Speaker 1: just thirty seconds right now. For for people with big
Speaker 1: mclinity events, it's it's four to six months re entry
Speaker 1: strategy or any should say, all right, we gotta run. Hey, Emily,
Speaker 1: great to check in with you. Emily Hill, she's founding
Speaker 1: partner at Bowersock Capital eight hundred million dollars in assets
Speaker 1: under management, joining us on the phone from Lawrence, Kansas,
Speaker 1: UH and that is where the firm is based. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to Bloomberg Business Week. Download the podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud,
Speaker 1: or Bloomberg dot com. And you can also listen to
Speaker 1: our radio show at two pm Eastern on Bloomberg Radio
Speaker 1: or watch us on YouTube. Sarah to Bloomberg Global News